BigRedX

It's definitely the best track on the Faust VI album:

These two were custom made for me based on various demo models: This one was an-demo model that I bough second hand an then got Simon Farmer at Gus to completely refurbish to my specification. Other than the colour change it didn't need too much doing to it as it was one of the basses I'd used as a starting point for spec of my black one: The 4-string fretless that is now owned by HappyJack was a straight ex-demo model.

Completely and utterly this. For the custom builds I have ordered, I went to luthiers who were already making something along the lines of what I was after in terms of overall design, and then told them how I wanted the instrument to look, feel, play and sound. I left everything else up to the luthier. The only technical specifications I asked for was a locking vibrato system on one of the guitars I had made.

Remorse? None whatsoever. I've had two custom guitars and two basses made especially for me, I also own a custom bass that wasn't built for me but has been back to the person who made it for modifications to make it more suitable for my use. Of all of these only one has been sold and that's because the musical project it was built for is now over and given the sorts of bands I'm playing with at the moment, and I'm likely to be playing with for the foreseeable future, I can't see myself using it for anything more than noodling at home, which IMO is a waste of a musical instrument, so it has been moved on to someone who will use it. The money is being used to fund a new custom bass for one of my current musical projects.

That wouldn't have sounded out of place in John Peel's show any time between 1979 and 1983. The only thing pushing the boundaries (slightly) is the use of technology that allows their guitarist to also do the bass and synth parts at the same time as the guitar.

IMO there's an important distinction between music that's new to you and music that is genuinely something different to what has been done before. In my previous post I'm perfectly comfortable with the fact that most of the "new" bands that I'm currently enjoying owe a lot to music I enjoyed in my youth. Also I think that the tendency to start actively listening music that I wasn't perviously interested in as I get older has a lot to do with subliminal influencing through hearing it in film and TV soundtracks etc. Conversely there's a lot of bands that only still listen to simply because I bought the records when I was young and foolish, and if I heard them for the first time today I wouldn't be remotely interested.

Where does that go on the kick drum and how does it work? The web site is very light on info.

Unless you need to wind the strings down the post to get a decent break angle over the nut you shouldn't need more than 1½ to 2 turns for the string to hold in place.

So long as the responsiveness of the pads has been adjusted to suit the drummer and the correct sounds picked for the style of the band, then IME this entirely down to "hearing with your eyes". A band I was in previously went through various line-ups one without a drummer and two with drummers using different electronic kits. However in all three cases the drum sounds were exactly the same samples triggered either by a sequencer or by the drummer. Interestingly the lineup which most people thought had the "best" drums was the one whose kit looked like conventional acoustic drums, but had been damped to the point where there was no more acoustic sound that your typical electronic drum pads and the heads were fitted with piezo transducers for triggering the actual drum sounds we used.

I think you've misunderstood what I was trying to say. Bad music will still be bad when it's loud but it might be a lot more exciting at volume rather than at normal home listening level. It's the same as being able to "feel" the bass. It doesn't make the music/sound any better, but it does make it feel/sound more exciting even when it isn't really.

For me it's up there with the "everything sounds better when it's loud" phenomenon. The real test of any music is if it still sounds good when it's quiet.

I've never understood this. Based on when I had a traditional bass rig, in order to be able to "feel" the sound I would have had to turn it up so far that I would have completely drowned out the rest of the band. For me, if I'm playing music that I like that's all the "vibe" I need to get into the performance.

@Ashdown Engineering haven't been on here since the middle of June, so I don't think tagging them in this thread is going to achieve much. I think since you've already returned the earbuds (did you return the tooth too?) and got a refund that's probably it. However, if that had been me, I would have been in touch with the carrier to let them know what one of their customers had been sending using their services, my local environmental health department, as well as trading standards.

You don't even need to use an EQ module on the patch. If you are after the same high cut on all your sounds you can make use of the global EQ instead. Even if there is a mic on the cab, the only person who knows for sure that it is being used is the FoH engineer. I'm sure that plenty of PA engineers will put up a mic to keep the bass player happy and then use a DI exclusively for the FoH sound. In the days when I still had a conventional bass rig when I went into the studio I would ask for one of the cabs to be mic'd up, but there was still also a DI from the amp and one direct from the bass itself. And I would never know which of those signals was the one that ended up in the final mix and TBH so long as the bass sounded right for what I had envisaged on the track I really didn't care. IMO the Helix doesn't need to offer a "sim" of any classic studio EQ. I'd be perfectly happy with a standard 4-band parametric as found on just about any modern digital desk.

It's seems strange how bass amps and cabs are still being advertised using "name endorsees" when they are the ones least likely to actually using them as anything other than on-stage props. Live and in the studio the bass sound will most likely be DI'd direct from the instrument and processed through compressors and EQ far superior to anything found in a typical bass rig. Those who need a conventional rig the most - weekend warriors playing covers in pubs with a vocal-only PA get ignored.

Yes I get that, but making fun of a serious comment detracts from the thread IMO. Again not suitable conduct, IMO, from someone who is supposed to be a moderator.

The sale of real tortoiseshell was banned in 1973 so in that case yes. For the rest of it, IMO, you're just being contentious for the sake of it which is not conduct befitting a moderator. Personally if I'd received that package, I'd be making a much bigger fuss then the OP appears to be doing. As well as complaining to whoever sent that (Ashdown?) I'd have also been straight on to the company that delivered the parcel to let them know what they had been carrying as well as my local environmental health department to let them know what I had been sent.

Animal remains are a prohibited item for sending in the post. You might want to contact whoever delivered the parcel to let them know what was in it. Maybe also your local environmental health department. IMO this is totally unacceptable.

IME the amp/cab is less important to getting a good bass sound as they are for guitarists to get a good guitar sound. I have a Helix, but very few of my patches use amp sims and none use cab sims (unless the chosen amp sim is only available in combo format). Where I have used an amp sim it generally tends to be for the drive sound so in effect I'm using it as a distortion device rather than a model of a particular amp. For the patches that don't use an amp sim I just have EQ and Compression modules (plus any required effects). Before I had the Helix I was using a rack multi-effects direct into a power amp.

He's definitely playing an Ampeg in the OGWT session.

What's so bizarre about the pickup arrangement?

Looks like a Magnum 1 from the controls.

Right now IME it very much depends on what kind of a band you are in, a what venues you play. Covers in pubs where the PA is your own and mostly for vocals, you will need a traditional bass rig. Pretty much anything else and you can do what you want. I sold all my conventional bass amplification and bought a Helix and an RCF745 FRFR powered speaker. I found that at the smaller venues I was being asked to turn down to the extent that I could hear more bass guitar from the guitarist's wedge monitor over on the other side of the stage then I could from my own rig directly behind me; and on the bigger stages even though I was using a Tech Soundsystems 1kW bass amp into 6x10 EBS speakers as soon as I stepped out of the direct "line of fire" of my rig I could only hear the bass in the foldback. For me the Helix and RCF cab is an ideal solution. If the foldback on the in-house PA isn't up to the job I have the RCF which I position so that it "fires" across the stage for the rest of the band to be able to hear me rather than out front where it could potentially mess up the PA balance. It also means that for gigs with multiple bands where stage space is at a premium I can place the speaker in a place where it wouldn't be possible to easily fit a traditional bass rig. For the bigger gigs I don't even bother with the cab and just use the supplied foldback. I've never noticed a problem with not being able to "feel" the sound. Most of the time I still couldn't even with a standard bass amp and speakers. The only time I've needed to use my FRFR cab to supply FoH bass sound the RCF was more than up to the task.

@Bassassin should be along in a bit with all the facts, but IIRC MIJ and CIJ come from different factories.

Surely that also means the DI level is affected by the output volume of the amp? That can't be a good thing.